He'brew Jewbilation Sweet Sixteen (Schmaltz Brewing Company)

We're usually fans of the He'brew line of beers from Schmaltz. When we saw Jewbilation in the vicinity of other beers - such as Old Jubilation by Avery - we assumed it was a Christmas beer and grabbed it in order to study it for science.

Instead, this is simply an Anniversary Ale - a curiously-chosen sixteenth anniversary.  The beer advertises "16 malts, 16 hops, 16% alcohol by volume." Yes.  Sixteen percent.  Holy crap.

I (Gene) am usually a fan of strong beers, such as those from Lost Abbey.  But this is simply too much.  You can smell the malty, faintly chocolate beer as soon as you open the bottle.  When you take a sip, you will still be tasting an unpleasant malt aftertaste half a minute later.  That's aside from the sharp, pungent initial taste.  This is a lot like drinking hard alcohol, except that it's vile and you're drinking a pint of it.

Hmm...this would definitely be a committal beer (this is Lily).  I also don't care for it, although it would be handy to have around when that creepy guy in the bar is hitting on you and you need an excuse to exit the conversation.  I would probably say something to the effect of "Dear Lord, this beer is too much.  Sorry, gotta go.  If you want my number it's 867-5309."  I also like strong beer every once in a while - like Daisy Cutter, Arrogant Bastard, etc. but this is too much.  Then again, I'm a big supporter of the simpler the better.  So, needless to say this beer won't have me coming back for more.  I think I'll stick to their nut brown ale.

Rating:  1.0
16% ABV

Fistmas (Revolution Brewing)

Revolution Brewing Company is located in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago's near north side.  While the most well-known Chicago brewery is Goose Island (a subsidiary of Annheiser-Busch, with all of their bottled beers produced outside of Chicago nowadays), Revolution is quickly becoming one of our favorites.

Fistmas (all of their beers have a name that alludes to their fist logo) is a pleasant, very hoppy ale.  However, it doesn't seem particularly festive for the Christmas season - to me (Gene) it seems like more of a fall beer.  The closest comparisons that come to mind are Great Lakes Nosferatu and New Belgium Red Hoptoberfest.  I (Lily) enjoy this beer very much, and I think this Christmas Ale is somewhat close to the bieres de Noel of France.  However, I was hoping that this beer would have been a little more spiced, or different than just a hoppy beer.

Rating:  3.0
ABV:  6.1%

Christmas Ale (Great Lakes Brewing Company)

Great Lakes has a number of great seasonal beers to go with their year-round offerings.  The single most well-known of these is their Christmas Ale.  Stop into any bar in Cleveland between November and December and you'll find a large percentage of the bargoers drinking pints of the spiced ale from snifter glasses rimmed with cinnamon.

This Christmas Ale is pleasantly light (but don't get fooled by the high alcohol content).  It has a hint of bitterness, but nothing unappealing.  The overlying notes are ones of sweetness, honey, and spice.  This pairs well with the cinnamon that some enthusiasts use.

Outside of the Cleveland area, you'll find this on draft once in a blue moon during the appropriate season, and you might find it at some liquor stores that specialize in craft beer.  If you do, don't hesitate to pick up a six pack or two - and don't let it sit in the fridge forever; it's famous for only lasting a couple months due to the honey in it.

Rating: 4.0
ABV: 7.5%

Downtown Brown (Lost Coast Brewery & Cafe)

The Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe is a small brewery in Eureka, California.  We discovered their Downtown Brown Ale through a random six pack at Binny's.

This brown ale has a much more bitter finish than some of the other brown ales we've reviewed, and the overall texture is not smooth.  With the other ales we believe we've been able to find some more chocolate or smoky notes in other brown ales, we don't feel like that's the case here. 

All in all though, it's not a beer that's unenjoyable - but at any place that would serve this beer, there definitely are better options.

Rating:  2.5
5% ABV

Nut Brown Ale (Goose Island)

Goose Island is, of course, a brewery that has been featured before on this blog - and will be in the future.  However, their Nut Brown Ale isn't their best offering.

The flavor is a dull chocolate flavor throughout; there isn't truly a differing note from the nose to the aftertaste.  While not unpleasant, it's a little boring compared to other, more complex brown ales.  Remember how we said that Goose Island's Harvest Ale was just one note of bitter?  Well we'd say that this Nut Brown Ale is just one note of chocolate - however it is definitely more drinkable than their Harvest Ale.

However, you could do far worse for a beer to drink with a steak or just at the end of the day.  But given the choice, we'd rather have a Messiah Nut Brown Ale or Ellie's Brown Ale.

Rating:  3.0
5.3% ABV

Messiah Nut Brown Ale (Schmaltz Brewing Company)

The Messiah Nut Brown Ale by Schmaltz - which carries the additional title of He'Brew to play on the Jewish heritage of the brewery - is one of our favorite brown ales.  They have breweries both in New York and San Francisco. 

This deeply colored brown ale starts bitter but finishes with a bold, chocolate taste.  The texture is nice and light as you would want your ales to be.  It also only leaves a slight after taste in your mouth but nothing too heavy. 

Despite the light texture, this is probably a beer best enjoyed slowly due to the bold flavors - and also probably best-paired with red meats or other very flavorful foods.  Foods with subtle tastes would probably be lost to this beer. 

ABV: 5.5%
Rating: 4.0

Avalanche Amber Ale (Breckenridge Brewery)

Breckenridge Brewery is a brewer that we are still discovering; they are heavily-involved in the art, music, and brewing communities in Colorado.  We've also had a couple of their other beers, which we'll likely review in the future.

Avalanche Amber Ale starts out full-bodied but light and ends with a non-bitter malty aftertaste.  As we would say, it's a "non-commitment" beer that still has a nice flavor--meaning you could have this beer while having a very intellectual conversation or while trying to pick up someone in a bar.  Because of the consistency, I would say this beer would be paired better with lighter flavors.  This amber ale is definitely not a beer that would stand up to bold flavors in red meats or other heavily seasoned foods.

We are going to have a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being beers we would likely not drink again, and 5 being beers we would go out of our way to get.

Rating: 3.5
4.4% ABV